YES - your ultimate live collection!

[Meng]

It's YOUR collection, you are allowed anything you like.....

This is proving INSANELY difficult.

How do you choose one out of all the fantastic versions of YIND there have been? What about solo spots? Do I give preference to gigs I attended? Performance over sound quality or vice versa?

This is proving INSANELY difficult.

[Yorkshire Square]

It's YOUR collection, you are allowed anything you like.....

Excellent! Might have a bit of ABBA in mine then...

[Mr. Holland]

Excellent! Might have a bit of ABBA in mine then...

I have always thought whenever I saw Jon bouncing up and down the stage he was a bit of a dancing queen....

[kayley10]

My Selection is more of a series than a collection by now:
CD 1 - Unreleased BBC Sessions 1970-71 + Live at the Yale Bowl 1971
CD 2 - Live at Columbia, Maryland 1973
CDs 3 + 4 - Madison Square Gardens 1974
CD 5 - Extracts from Live at the QPR 1975 + New Jersey 1976 + High Vibration (Early version of Awaken) live from 75
CD 6 + 7 - Boston Garden 1977
CD 8 - Wembley Arena 1978 + Bonus EP from Classic Yes
CD 9 - Boston 1980 Extracts + 90125 Tour Extracts including Our Song + BG Tour Extracts including I'm Running
CD 10 - ABWH Tour + Union Tour + Talk
CD 11 - Keys to ascension Hightlights (The preformances on the official albums are BANNED, YOU HEAR?)
CD 12 - Khoroshev Era (OYE, Ladder, Masterworks)
CD 13 - Early YesSymphonic Show Highlights
CD 14 + 15 - 2002, Full Circle, 35th Anniversary Tour Hightlights (You can rip the sound from Montreux, Tsongas, Glastonbury and Birmingham)
CD 16 - In the Present + Fly From Here Suite & Other FFH Live Tracks (Here's hoping!)

Then again, a 2CD set would also do the trick:
1. America - Unreleased BBC Sessions 1971
2. Leaves of Green section - Madison Square Gardens 1974
3. High Vibration - Reading 1975
4. Sweet Dreams - Live at the QPR 1975
5. Apocalypse (Intro) - Detroit 1976
6. Going for the One - Boston Garden 1977
7. On the Silent Wings of Freedom - Wembley Arena 1978
8. Roundabout - Bonus EP from Classic Yes
9. I've Seen All Good People - Bonus EP from Classic Yes
10. Tempus Fugit - Boston 1980
11. Our Song - Homdel 1984
12. Owner of a Lonely Heart - Dormtund 1984


1. Onwards - SLO 2nd Night
2. Gates of Delirium - Masterworks 2000
3. Close to the Edge - Amsterdam 2001
4. Long Distance Runaround / The Fish - Montreux 2003
5. Show Me - Montreux 2003
6. My Eyes / Mind Drive - Tsongas 2004
7. We can Fly - FFH Date

How about your ultimate live dvd comliation(s)?

[Dave Wilkinson]

I notice in your ultimate live set you have 2 tracks from the 09/03/1994 Madison Square Garden show. Do you know where I can find a recording of this show? I was in the 7th row. It was my last night living in New York after being there for 7+ years. It was the end of an era for me, and as such I have ALWAYS wanted a recording of this show. I am clueless as to how to get unofficial recordings. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. This tour had its rough spots, but Yes were firing on all pistons on 09/03/1994.

Many thanks.
Dave

[Mr. Holland]

With so many various live recordings out there, from official albums/cd’s and dvd’s to an immense number of bootlegs, I thought it would be nice to create a personal ‘ultimate live collection’ and I dare everyone here to take the time to do the same.

A few things concerning my list: first of I like a good sound quality, so if I could use an official release then I chose to do so over a bootleg, even if the bootleg may have contained a better played version. I’m a big fan of the Union tour, so there are quite a few takes from that tour. SK and RoL I deliberately took of the OYE tour, because IMO the best versions of these songs ever where played on that tour. For ‘mind drive’ I took the Lugano recording. I took the whole of part 1, cut off the ‘my eyes see the coming revolution’ bit + acoustic solo bit at the start of part two and let part 1 sequence into part two (thanks to music cleaning lab), now making for one whole 12 minute song. For CD 3 to make all the songs fit within the 80 minutes of a CD (It went to 82 minutes), I had to speed up every song a tiny bit, but it works. Furthermore I let every song sequence into the next one, from the end applause at one song into the applause at the start of the next song, to make it appear as if it were one concert. This didn’t work on every song, because sometimes the loudness of the audience differs to much (whether it was recorded for a 10.000+ audience in an arena or a 1.500+ audience in a theater makes a difference), but on the majority this works.

So this is my……

YES – ULTIMATE LIVE COLLECTION:

CD 1:
01) Siberian Kathru (San Diego 1997, radio broadcast)
02) Rhythm of Love (San Diego 1997, radio broadcast)
03) Don’t Kill the Whale (Montreux 2003, Live in Montreux CD)
04) It’ll be a Good Day (Las Vegas 1999, House of Yes DVD)
05) Real Love (New York 1994)
06) Close to the Edge (London 1972, Yessongs)
07) In the Presence of (Montreux 2003, Live in Montreux CD)
08) Astral Traveller (Gothenburg 1971, The Word is Live box)
09) Hold On (Denver 1991)

CD 2:
01) Soundchaser (Detroit 1976, The Word is Live box)
02) Beyond and Before (French TV show 1969)
03) Open Your Eyes (San Diego 1997, radio broadcast)
04) Shoot High Aim Low (Houston 1988, The Word is Live box)
05) Heart of the Sunrise (Montreux 2003, live in Montreux CD)
06) Machine Messiah (Boston 1980)
07) On the Silent Wings of Freedom (Quebec 1979)
08) Endless Dream (New York 1994)

CD 3:
01) Parallels (Rotterdam 1977, Yesshows)
02) It Can Happen (Dortmund 1984)
03) Mind Drive (Lugano 2004)
04) Ritual (Massachusetts 2004, Songs From Tsongas DVD)
05) Changes (Denver 1991)
06) Southside of the Sky (Massachusetts 2004, Songs From Tsongas DVD)
07) Perpetual Change (New York 1972, Yessongs)

CD 4:
01) Does it Really Happen? (Boston 1980)
02) Homeworld (the Ladder) (Las Vegas 1999, House of Yes DVD)
03) Gates of Delirium (Concord 2000)
04) I’m Running (Omaha 1987)
05) Lift Me Up (Denver 1991)
06) Yours is No Disgrace (Denver 1991)
07) And You And I (Montreux 2003, live in Montreux CD)

CD 5:
01) The Calling (New York 1994)
02) Magnification (Camden 2002)
03) Sweet Dreams (Massachusetts 2004, Songs from Tsongas)
04) I’ve Seen All Good People (Denver 1991)
05) Awaken (Mountain View 1991)
06) Make it Easy/Owner of a Lonely Heart (Denver 1991)
07) Roundabout (Denver 1991)
08) Starship Trooper (Dortmund 1984)

I have been listening to this compilation recently again and man o man, and it makes me realize again what great music and performances Yes have created for us over all these years!

[dallasman]

I have been listening to this compilation recently again and man o man, and it makes me realize again what great music and performances Yes have created for us over all these years!

OK, first off: I did not just see your post and think "Oh yeah, I'll show him". :-) I just happened upon this thread, and thought "great minds think alike, indeed". I've been tinkering with a similar project for the past two or three weeks, and am basically finished.

I wanted to create a "live version" of each album, at least the main sequence. Ideally, with every song from the album performed live by the lineup that recorded it, recorded on the tour to support the album. The rest of the CD playing time would be used for other performances from that tour. Furthermore, with a view to possibly sharing the compilation on torrent sites or blogs, and as a way of avoiding already over-familiar versions, I banned official releases altogether, and tried to include some less common bootlegs. On the other hand, sound quality was a constant consideration. Not only in terms of listenability, but internal compatibility. And, as someone mentioned, you can't make a compilation like this without Wembley '78, so that's in there, as is Yale Bowl '71 and Boston '74.

I spent a lot of time on segues and crossfades between tracks, to make the albums flow and make sense as 80-minute wholes. The idea was not trying to make it sound like one concert, but simply as a "themed" live album. Sometimes tracks segue seamlessly, sometimes there are abrupt changes or a bit of banter. I think the end result in most cases is a very pleasant listening experience, as well as a nice "sampler" of Yes bootlegs. In particular, I've played the Fragile and Tormato volumes a lot.

For the first two albums, there simply aren't any live versions of "Harold Land", "Yesterday and Today", "Clear Days" or "The Prophet". The rest of the tracks are represented on radio sessions (many of whom are officially released) and a few, mostly poor, live tapes. Complete versions of the two albums being impossible anyway, I simply broke one rule to comply with another, and took "Sweet Dreams" and "Survival" from official Sources.

But because I'm a lunatic who enjoys tedious tinkering, I decided to make a "clean" version too, combining the non-official tracks and some encores on one CD:

THE FIRST TWO ALBUMS LIVE

01 Beyond & Before [1970-01-10 Olympia, Paris]
02 I See You [1969-12-21 Sheffield]
03 Looking Around [1969-06-04 Johnnie Walker Show]
04 Every Little Thing [1970-04-03 Köln]
05 Sweetness [1969-08-04 Symonds On Sunday]
06 Survival [Buenos Aires '99-Inglewood '78]
07 Eleanor Rigby [1969-08-20 Hamburg]
08 Something's Coming [1969-10-27 Amougies]
09 No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed [1970-04-03 Köln]
10 Then [1970-04-03 Köln]
11 Everydays [1970-04-03 Köln]
12 Sweet Dreams [1975-06-23 Long Beach]
13 Astral Traveller [1970-04-03 Köln]
14 Time And A Word (1996-03-06)


the "dirty" versions:


YES LIVE

01 Beyond & Before [1970-01-10 Olympia, Paris] (aka "French TV 1969")
02 I See You [1969-12-21 Sheffield](6:17 edit)
03 Looking Around [1969-06-04 Johnnie Walker Show]
04 Every Little Thing [1970-04-03 Köln]
05 Sweetness [1969-08-04 Symonds On Sunday]
06 Survival [1969-11-29 Beat Club]('Lost Broadcasts' DVD)
07 Eleanor Rigby [1969-08-20 Hamburg]
08 It's Love [1969-10-27 Amougies]
09 Something's Coming [1969-10-27 Amougies]
10 Survival [Buenos Aires '99/Inglewood '78]


TIME AND A WORD LIVE

01 No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed [1970-04-03 Köln]
02 Then [1970-04-03 Köln]
03 Everydays [1970-04-03 Köln]
04 Sweet Dreams [Dave Lee Travis Show 1970-01-19](Something's Coming)
05 Astral Traveller [1970-04-03 Köln]
06 Time And A Word [1996-03-06 San Luis Obispo]
07 Dear Father [Sheffield 1969-12-22]
08 Eleanor Rigby [Sheffield 1969-12-22]
09 Sweet Dreams [1989-10-03 Stockholm]
10 Time And A Word [1989-10-03 Stockholm]


THE YES ALBUM LIVE

01 Yours is No Disgrace [1971-07-24 New Haven]
02 Clap [1970-08-09 Plumpton]
03 Starship Trooper [1973-03-08 Tokyo]
04 I've Seen All Good People [1971-01-24 Göteborg]
05 A Venture [Steve Howe Trio 2010-03-07/Jon & S.o.R 2007-02-16]
06 Perpetual Change [1971-07-24 New Haven]
07 Everydays [1971-05-10 Milano]
08 America [1971-05-10 Milano]

The Yes Album offered challenges in the shape of "A Venture" (never played by the band) and "Starship Trooper" (never played by the lineup that recorded it). With ST I simply used the earliest allowable version in my collection, which is only the fourth performance ever. "A venture" is stitched together from an instrumental version Steve played with his Trio, and a version by the School of Rock feat. Jon (audio from YouTube). Hey, you got Jon singing, Steve playing the guitar, that's close enough.


FRAGILE LIVE

01 Roundabout [1972-02-23 NYC]
02 Cans & Brahms [1973-03-19 Brisbane/1973-03-21 Adelaide]
03 We Have Heaven [2002-08-25 Las Vegas]
04 South Side Of The Sky [2002-08-25 Las Vegas]
05 'Five Per Cent Of Something' [1971-07-24 New Haven] (drum solo, edited)
06 Long Distance Runaround [1971-10-16 Newcastle]
07 The Fish [1971-10-16 Newcastle]
08 Mood For A Day [1971-10-16 Newcastle]
09 Heart Of The Sunrise [1972-03-17 San Bernardino]
10 '20 Second Lap Dance' [1971-10-16 Newcastle/1972-03-10 San Francisco]
11 I've Seen All Good People [1972-01-21 Amsterdam]
12 Wakeman Solo [1972-01-21 Amsterdam]
13 Yours Is No Disgrace [1972-03-10 San Francisco]
14 South Side Of The Sky [1974-12-05 Tulsa/1971-10-02 Bradford]

Track 10 is a spontaneous "jam" that segues into Bill Graham warning the crowd about "narcs", with delicate backing from Steve and Rick edited in. Track 14 is last for a reason. Even though SSOTS was played on the Fragile tour, the only known recording is so poor it would ruin the overall experience to have it in the middle. Just to have it on there, I used the last part to patch the other one-off 70's recording of SSOTS, from the Relayer tour.


CLOSE TO THE EDGE LIVE

01 Close To The Edge [1973-03-09 Tokyo]
02 And You And I [1973-03-10 Tokyo]
03 Siberian Khatru [1973-03-19 Brisbane]
04 Heart Of The Sunrise [1973-03-19 Brisbane]
05 Wakeman Solo [1972-08-13 Columbia, MD]
06 Roundabout [1972-08-13 Columbia, MD]
07 Yours Is No Disgrace [1972-08-13 Columbia, MD]

Given the circumstances, I dropped the "same lineup" requirement for this. The only time the CTTE lineup has performed a CTTE track live, is the one time they tried the title track on the Union tour. That would be interesting to hear, but wasn't recorded, and was apparently a bit of a trainwreck anyway...


TALES FROM TOPOGAPHIC OCEANS LIVE

1-01 The Revealing Science Of God [1972-02-18 NYC]
1-02 The Remembering [1974-02-26 Boston]
1-03 The Ancient [1974-03-18 Inglewood]

2-01 Ritual [1974-04-11 Frankfurt]
2-02 Close To The Edge [1974-03-19 Long Beach]
2-03 Roundabout [1974-03-19 Long Beach]
2-04 Starship Trooper [1974-03-19 Long Beach]
2-05 Yours Is No Disgrace [1974-02-16 Philadelphia]
2-06 'Remembering The Ancient' [1975-05-10/1978-09-19/2000-06-21]

Last track is another custom-made medley. It's a short quote from "The Remembering", then a couple of bits from "The Ancient". I've also been working on a re-edit of just the Tales bits from Jon's 1980 "Yes Medley".


RELAYER LIVE

01 The Gates Of Delirium [1974-12-11 Boston]
02 Sound Chaser [1975-06-21 Hollywood Bowl]
03 To Be Over [1975-06-23 Long Beach Arena]
04 And You And I [1974-12-11 Boston (aud)]
05 Ritual [1974-12-11 Boston (aud)]

Self-explanatory, really.


GOING FOR THE ONE

01 Going For The One [1977-11-12 Gothenburg]
02 Turn Of The Century [1977-09-26 Long Beach]
03 Parallels [1977-09-26 Long Beach]
04 Wonderous Stories [1977-11-12 Gothenburg]
05 Awaken [1977-10-26 Wembley]
06 'A Change Of Pace' [1977-10-27 Wembley]
07 Bremen Boogie [1977-11-27 Bremen]
08 Esslingen Country-Blues Jam [1977-12-01 Esslingen]
09 'Play Us a Tune, Rick' [1977-10-26 Wembley]
10 Leaves Of Green [1977-08-25 Atlanta]
11 Nous Sommes Du Soleil [1977-12-06 Paris]
12 'Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No 2 (Last Bar)' [1977-10-29 Wembley]
13 Paris Tour Song [1977-12-06 Paris]
14 Colours Of The Rainbow [1977-11-12 Gothenburg]
15 Flight Jam->Awaken [1977-09-26 Long Beach]

I went for quantity and novelty here. I felt the GFTO album and tour was well represented by these light-hearted little jams and interludes, along with a couple of nods to Tales, and then a bonus Awaken at the end for some weight. A perfect mixture of the sublime and the ridiculous.


TORMATO LIVE

01 Future Times-Rejoice [1978-08-30 Boston]
02 Don't Kill The Whale [1978-10-06 Inglewood]
03 Madrigal [1978-10-06 Inglewood]
04 Release Release [1978-10-30 Boston]
05 Arriving UFO [1979-06-19 Boston]
06 Circus of Heaven [1978-08-30 Boston]
07 Onward [1996-03-06 San Luis Obispo]
08 On The Silent Wings of Freedom [1978-10-28 Wembley]
09 The Big Medley [1978-09-19 Cleveland]
10 Starship Trooper [1979-06-19 Boston]

By this stage, there are a lot of very good recordings to choose from, so you could easily go mad trying to piece together the "ultimate 1978 show" or whatever. For consistency, I mainly went for high-quality aud. sources, the exeption being the classic Wembley show, represented by "On The Silent Wings Of Freedom".

"...and that ends this party political broadcast on behalf of the HistoryStoppedIn1979 Party".

I doubt I'll bother with the rest of the albums, but I did have a lot of fun making these compilations, while simultaneously learning a skill of sorts, so who knows?

[Yesed]

It's YOUR collection, you are allowed anything you like.....

Theres another thread here somewhere that may say different about ABWH.

But regarding the collection of songs for the cds, I would say Yes. I like the song list with a few exceptions. Which live versions would be a little different as well.
I would do Siberian from Motreux, AYAI from Symphonic. Leave out Make it easy.

[Mr. Holland]

OK, first off: I did not just see your post and think "Oh yeah, I'll show him". :-) I just happened upon this thread, and thought "great minds think alike, indeed". I've been tinkering with a similar project for the past two or three weeks, and am basically finished.

I wanted to create a "live version" of each album, at least the main sequence. Ideally, with every song from the album performed live by the lineup that recorded it, recorded on the tour to support the album. The rest of the CD playing time would be used for other performances from that tour. Furthermore, with a view to possibly sharing the compilation on torrent sites or blogs, and as a way of avoiding already over-familiar versions, I banned official releases altogether, and tried to include some less common bootlegs. On the other hand, sound quality was a constant consideration. Not only in terms of listenability, but internal compatibility. And, as someone mentioned, you can't make a compilation like this without Wembley '78, so that's in there, as is Yale Bowl '71 and Boston '74.

I spent a lot of time on segues and crossfades between tracks, to make the albums flow and make sense as 80-minute wholes. The idea was not trying to make it sound like one concert, but simply as a "themed" live album. Sometimes tracks segue seamlessly, sometimes there are abrupt changes or a bit of banter. I think the end result in most cases is a very pleasant listening experience, as well as a nice "sampler" of Yes bootlegs. In particular, I've played the Fragile and Tormato volumes a lot.

For the first two albums, there simply aren't any live versions of "Harold Land", "Yesterday and Today", "Clear Days" or "The Prophet". The rest of the tracks are represented on radio sessions (many of whom are officially released) and a few, mostly poor, live tapes. Complete versions of the two albums being impossible anyway, I simply broke one rule to comply with another, and took "Sweet Dreams" and "Survival" from official Sources.

But because I'm a lunatic who enjoys tedious tinkering, I decided to make a "clean" version too, combining the non-official tracks and some encores on one CD:

THE FIRST TWO ALBUMS LIVE

01 Beyond & Before [1970-01-10 Olympia, Paris]
02 I See You [1969-12-21 Sheffield]
03 Looking Around [1969-06-04 Johnnie Walker Show]
04 Every Little Thing [1970-04-03 Köln]
05 Sweetness [1969-08-04 Symonds On Sunday]
06 Survival [Buenos Aires '99-Inglewood '78]
07 Eleanor Rigby [1969-08-20 Hamburg]
08 Something's Coming [1969-10-27 Amougies]
09 No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed [1970-04-03 Köln]
10 Then [1970-04-03 Köln]
11 Everydays [1970-04-03 Köln]
12 Sweet Dreams [1975-06-23 Long Beach]
13 Astral Traveller [1970-04-03 Köln]
14 Time And A Word (1996-03-06)


the "dirty" versions:


YES LIVE

01 Beyond & Before [1970-01-10 Olympia, Paris] (aka "French TV 1969")
02 I See You [1969-12-21 Sheffield](6:17 edit)
03 Looking Around [1969-06-04 Johnnie Walker Show]
04 Every Little Thing [1970-04-03 Köln]
05 Sweetness [1969-08-04 Symonds On Sunday]
06 Survival [1969-11-29 Beat Club]('Lost Broadcasts' DVD)
07 Eleanor Rigby [1969-08-20 Hamburg]
08 It's Love [1969-10-27 Amougies]
09 Something's Coming [1969-10-27 Amougies]
10 Survival [Buenos Aires '99/Inglewood '78]


TIME AND A WORD LIVE

01 No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed [1970-04-03 Köln]
02 Then [1970-04-03 Köln]
03 Everydays [1970-04-03 Köln]
04 Sweet Dreams [Dave Lee Travis Show 1970-01-19](Something's Coming)
05 Astral Traveller [1970-04-03 Köln]
06 Time And A Word [1996-03-06 San Luis Obispo]
07 Dear Father [Sheffield 1969-12-22]
08 Eleanor Rigby [Sheffield 1969-12-22]
09 Sweet Dreams [1989-10-03 Stockholm]
10 Time And A Word [1989-10-03 Stockholm]


THE YES ALBUM LIVE

01 Yours is No Disgrace [1971-07-24 New Haven]
02 Clap [1970-08-09 Plumpton]
03 Starship Trooper [1973-03-08 Tokyo]
04 I've Seen All Good People [1971-01-24 Göteborg]
05 A Venture [Steve Howe Trio 2010-03-07/Jon & S.o.R 2007-02-16]
06 Perpetual Change [1971-07-24 New Haven]
07 Everydays [1971-05-10 Milano]
08 America [1971-05-10 Milano]

The Yes Album offered challenges in the shape of "A Venture" (never played by the band) and "Starship Trooper" (never played by the lineup that recorded it). With ST I simply used the earliest allowable version in my collection, which is only the fourth performance ever. "A venture" is stitched together from an instrumental version Steve played with his Trio, and a version by the School of Rock feat. Jon (audio from YouTube). Hey, you got Jon singing, Steve playing the guitar, that's close enough.


FRAGILE LIVE

01 Roundabout [1972-02-23 NYC]
02 Cans & Brahms [1973-03-19 Brisbane/1973-03-21 Adelaide]
03 We Have Heaven [2002-08-25 Las Vegas]
04 South Side Of The Sky [2002-08-25 Las Vegas]
05 'Five Per Cent Of Something' [1971-07-24 New Haven] (drum solo, edited)
06 Long Distance Runaround [1971-10-16 Newcastle]
07 The Fish [1971-10-16 Newcastle]
08 Mood For A Day [1971-10-16 Newcastle]
09 Heart Of The Sunrise [1972-03-17 San Bernardino]
10 '20 Second Lap Dance' [1971-10-16 Newcastle/1972-03-10 San Francisco]
11 I've Seen All Good People [1972-01-21 Amsterdam]
12 Wakeman Solo [1972-01-21 Amsterdam]
13 Yours Is No Disgrace [1972-03-10 San Francisco]
14 South Side Of The Sky [1974-12-05 Tulsa/1971-10-02 Bradford]

Track 10 is a spontaneous "jam" that segues into Bill Graham warning the crowd about "narcs", with delicate backing from Steve and Rick edited in. Track 14 is last for a reason. Even though SSOTS was played on the Fragile tour, the only known recording is so poor it would ruin the overall experience to have it in the middle. Just to have it on there, I used the last part to patch the other one-off 70's recording of SSOTS, from the Relayer tour.


CLOSE TO THE EDGE LIVE

01 Close To The Edge [1973-03-09 Tokyo]
02 And You And I [1973-03-10 Tokyo]
03 Siberian Khatru [1973-03-19 Brisbane]
04 Heart Of The Sunrise [1973-03-19 Brisbane]
05 Wakeman Solo [1972-08-13 Columbia, MD]
06 Roundabout [1972-08-13 Columbia, MD]
07 Yours Is No Disgrace [1972-08-13 Columbia, MD]

Given the circumstances, I dropped the "same lineup" requirement for this. The only time the CTTE lineup has performed a CTTE track live, is the one time they tried the title track on the Union tour. That would be interesting to hear, but wasn't recorded, and was apparently a bit of a trainwreck anyway...


TALES FROM TOPOGAPHIC OCEANS LIVE

1-01 The Revealing Science Of God [1972-02-18 NYC]
1-02 The Remembering [1974-02-26 Boston]
1-03 The Ancient [1974-03-18 Inglewood]

2-01 Ritual [1974-04-11 Frankfurt]
2-02 Close To The Edge [1974-03-19 Long Beach]
2-03 Roundabout [1974-03-19 Long Beach]
2-04 Starship Trooper [1974-03-19 Long Beach]
2-05 Yours Is No Disgrace [1974-02-16 Philadelphia]
2-06 'Remembering The Ancient' [1975-05-10/1978-09-19/2000-06-21]

Last track is another custom-made medley. It's a short quote from "The Remembering", then a couple of bits from "The Ancient". I've also been working on a re-edit of just the Tales bits from Jon's 1980 "Yes Medley".


RELAYER LIVE

01 The Gates Of Delirium [1974-12-11 Boston]
02 Sound Chaser [1975-06-21 Hollywood Bowl]
03 To Be Over [1975-06-23 Long Beach Arena]
04 And You And I [1974-12-11 Boston (aud)]
05 Ritual [1974-12-11 Boston (aud)]

Self-explanatory, really.


GOING FOR THE ONE

01 Going For The One [1977-11-12 Gothenburg]
02 Turn Of The Century [1977-09-26 Long Beach]
03 Parallels [1977-09-26 Long Beach]
04 Wonderous Stories [1977-11-12 Gothenburg]
05 Awaken [1977-10-26 Wembley]
06 'A Change Of Pace' [1977-10-27 Wembley]
07 Bremen Boogie [1977-11-27 Bremen]
08 Esslingen Country-Blues Jam [1977-12-01 Esslingen]
09 'Play Us a Tune, Rick' [1977-10-26 Wembley]
10 Leaves Of Green [1977-08-25 Atlanta]
11 Nous Sommes Du Soleil [1977-12-06 Paris]
12 'Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No 2 (Last Bar)' [1977-10-29 Wembley]
13 Paris Tour Song [1977-12-06 Paris]
14 Colours Of The Rainbow [1977-11-12 Gothenburg]
15 Flight Jam->Awaken [1977-09-26 Long Beach]

I went for quantity and novelty here. I felt the GFTO album and tour was well represented by these light-hearted little jams and interludes, along with a couple of nods to Tales, and then a bonus Awaken at the end for some weight. A perfect mixture of the sublime and the ridiculous.


TORMATO LIVE

01 Future Times-Rejoice [1978-08-30 Boston]
02 Don't Kill The Whale [1978-10-06 Inglewood]
03 Madrigal [1978-10-06 Inglewood]
04 Release Release [1978-10-30 Boston]
05 Arriving UFO [1979-06-19 Boston]
06 Circus of Heaven [1978-08-30 Boston]
07 Onward [1996-03-06 San Luis Obispo]
08 On The Silent Wings of Freedom [1978-10-28 Wembley]
09 The Big Medley [1978-09-19 Cleveland]
10 Starship Trooper [1979-06-19 Boston]

By this stage, there are a lot of very good recordings to choose from, so you could easily go mad trying to piece together the "ultimate 1978 show" or whatever. For consistency, I mainly went for high-quality aud. sources, the exeption being the classic Wembley show, represented by "On The Silent Wings Of Freedom".

"...and that ends this party political broadcast on behalf of the HistoryStoppedIn1979 Party".

I doubt I'll bother with the rest of the albums, but I did have a lot of fun making these compilations, while simultaneously learning a skill of sorts, so who knows?

Wow! Very much impressed with the work you put in, that looks like a real nice compilation for the die hard fans.

[dallasman]

Wow! Very much impressed with the work you put in, that looks like a real nice compilation for the die hard fans.

Not the compilation I'd force on a friend to convert them, definitely, but yes, I'd like to think fellow die-hards would nod approvingly. And some of the edits are really cool. The "intended audience" is basically myself, but I wanted to make them like "real bootlegs". That was the project, even if doesn't make much sense. I don't know that I'll ever need to burn them onto CDs, for example, but I stuck to the 80 minute limit. At one point, I was even going to give each volume a title (like "Making A Total Mass: Close To The Edge Live") for that authentic feeling. I was big on themed mixtapes back in the analogue days (hand-drawn covers, multi-volume compilations, the whole deal), but simply compiling and burning a CD is not the same, is it? Luckily, digital audio editing is a piece of cake, so I feel I rediscovered an old hobby here. Always good to have one of those.

For anyone thinking about playing around with sound, I recommend Audacity. Free, reliable and user-friendly. You'll have the basics down in minutes, and suddenly there's all kinds of things you can do. Splitting a long file into tracks, adjusting speed and pitch, removing noise or silence, editing out crowd noise etc. Fun for all the family.

And for the record, I actually had friends and girlfriends growing up. Honestly. Still have some friends, and a daughter.
Just wanted to make that clear :-)

[Punj Lizard]

Not the compilation I'd force on a friend to convert them, definitely, but yes, I'd like to think fellow die-hards would nod approvingly. And some of the edits are really cool. The "intended audience" is basically myself, but I wanted to make them like "real bootlegs". That was the project, even if doesn't make much sense. I don't know that I'll ever need to burn them onto CDs, for example, but I stuck to the 80 minute limit. At one point, I was even going to give each volume a title (like "Making A Total Mass: Close To The Edge Live") for that authentic feeling. I was big on themed mixtapes back in the analogue days (hand-drawn covers, multi-volume compilations, the whole deal), but simply compiling and burning a CD is not the same, is it? Luckily, digital audio editing is a piece of cake, so I feel I rediscovered an old hobby here. Always good to have one of those.

For anyone thinking about playing around with sound, I recommend Audacity. Free, reliable and user-friendly. You'll have the basics down in minutes, and suddenly there's all kinds of things you can do. Splitting a long file into tracks, adjusting speed and pitch, removing noise or silence, editing out crowd noise etc. Fun for all the family.

And for the record, I actually had friends and girlfriends growing up. Honestly. Still have some friends, and a daughter.
Just wanted to make that clear :-)

First, let me say, great work on the live collections - brilliant!
Second, on Audacity, I agree - a handy piece of software.

[Mr. Holland]

For anyone thinking about playing around with sound, I recommend Audacity. Free, reliable and user-friendly. You'll have the basics down in minutes, and suddenly there's all kinds of things you can do. Splitting a long file into tracks, adjusting speed and pitch, removing noise or silence, editing out crowd noise etc. Fun for all the family.

I use Magix Music Cleaning Lab, which also works very well.

[BrianD]

OK, first off: I did not just see your post and think "Oh yeah, I'll show him". :-) I just happened upon this thread, and thought "great minds think alike, indeed". I've been tinkering with a similar project for the past two or three weeks, and am basically finished.

I wanted to create a "live version" of each album, at least the main sequence. Ideally, with every song from the album performed live by the lineup that recorded it, recorded on the tour to support the album. The rest of the CD playing time would be used for other performances from that tour. Furthermore, with a view to possibly sharing the compilation on torrent sites or blogs, and as a way of avoiding already over-familiar versions, I banned official releases altogether, and tried to include some less common bootlegs. On the other hand, sound quality was a constant consideration. Not only in terms of listenability, but internal compatibility. And, as someone mentioned, you can't make a compilation like this without Wembley '78, so that's in there, as is Yale Bowl '71 and Boston '74.

I spent a lot of time on segues and crossfades between tracks, to make the albums flow and make sense as 80-minute wholes. The idea was not trying to make it sound like one concert, but simply as a "themed" live album. Sometimes tracks segue seamlessly, sometimes there are abrupt changes or a bit of banter. I think the end result in most cases is a very pleasant listening experience, as well as a nice "sampler" of Yes bootlegs. In particular, I've played the Fragile and Tormato volumes a lot.

For the first two albums, there simply aren't any live versions of "Harold Land", "Yesterday and Today", "Clear Days" or "The Prophet". The rest of the tracks are represented on radio sessions (many of whom are officially released) and a few, mostly poor, live tapes. Complete versions of the two albums being impossible anyway, I simply broke one rule to comply with another, and took "Sweet Dreams" and "Survival" from official Sources.

But because I'm a lunatic who enjoys tedious tinkering, I decided to make a "clean" version too, combining the non-official tracks and some encores on one CD:

THE FIRST TWO ALBUMS LIVE

01 Beyond & Before [1970-01-10 Olympia, Paris]
02 I See You [1969-12-21 Sheffield]
03 Looking Around [1969-06-04 Johnnie Walker Show]
04 Every Little Thing [1970-04-03 Köln]
05 Sweetness [1969-08-04 Symonds On Sunday]
06 Survival [Buenos Aires '99-Inglewood '78]
07 Eleanor Rigby [1969-08-20 Hamburg]
08 Something's Coming [1969-10-27 Amougies]
09 No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed [1970-04-03 Köln]
10 Then [1970-04-03 Köln]
11 Everydays [1970-04-03 Köln]
12 Sweet Dreams [1975-06-23 Long Beach]
13 Astral Traveller [1970-04-03 Köln]
14 Time And A Word (1996-03-06)


the "dirty" versions:


YES LIVE

01 Beyond & Before [1970-01-10 Olympia, Paris] (aka "French TV 1969")
02 I See You [1969-12-21 Sheffield](6:17 edit)
03 Looking Around [1969-06-04 Johnnie Walker Show]
04 Every Little Thing [1970-04-03 Köln]
05 Sweetness [1969-08-04 Symonds On Sunday]
06 Survival [1969-11-29 Beat Club]('Lost Broadcasts' DVD)
07 Eleanor Rigby [1969-08-20 Hamburg]
08 It's Love [1969-10-27 Amougies]
09 Something's Coming [1969-10-27 Amougies]
10 Survival [Buenos Aires '99/Inglewood '78]


TIME AND A WORD LIVE

01 No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed [1970-04-03 Köln]
02 Then [1970-04-03 Köln]
03 Everydays [1970-04-03 Köln]
04 Sweet Dreams [Dave Lee Travis Show 1970-01-19](Something's Coming)
05 Astral Traveller [1970-04-03 Köln]
06 Time And A Word [1996-03-06 San Luis Obispo]
07 Dear Father [Sheffield 1969-12-22]
08 Eleanor Rigby [Sheffield 1969-12-22]
09 Sweet Dreams [1989-10-03 Stockholm]
10 Time And A Word [1989-10-03 Stockholm]


THE YES ALBUM LIVE

01 Yours is No Disgrace [1971-07-24 New Haven]
02 Clap [1970-08-09 Plumpton]
03 Starship Trooper [1973-03-08 Tokyo]
04 I've Seen All Good People [1971-01-24 Göteborg]
05 A Venture [Steve Howe Trio 2010-03-07/Jon & S.o.R 2007-02-16]
06 Perpetual Change [1971-07-24 New Haven]
07 Everydays [1971-05-10 Milano]
08 America [1971-05-10 Milano]

The Yes Album offered challenges in the shape of "A Venture" (never played by the band) and "Starship Trooper" (never played by the lineup that recorded it). With ST I simply used the earliest allowable version in my collection, which is only the fourth performance ever. "A venture" is stitched together from an instrumental version Steve played with his Trio, and a version by the School of Rock feat. Jon (audio from YouTube). Hey, you got Jon singing, Steve playing the guitar, that's close enough.


FRAGILE LIVE

01 Roundabout [1972-02-23 NYC]
02 Cans & Brahms [1973-03-19 Brisbane/1973-03-21 Adelaide]
03 We Have Heaven [2002-08-25 Las Vegas]
04 South Side Of The Sky [2002-08-25 Las Vegas]
05 'Five Per Cent Of Something' [1971-07-24 New Haven] (drum solo, edited)
06 Long Distance Runaround [1971-10-16 Newcastle]
07 The Fish [1971-10-16 Newcastle]
08 Mood For A Day [1971-10-16 Newcastle]
09 Heart Of The Sunrise [1972-03-17 San Bernardino]
10 '20 Second Lap Dance' [1971-10-16 Newcastle/1972-03-10 San Francisco]
11 I've Seen All Good People [1972-01-21 Amsterdam]
12 Wakeman Solo [1972-01-21 Amsterdam]
13 Yours Is No Disgrace [1972-03-10 San Francisco]
14 South Side Of The Sky [1974-12-05 Tulsa/1971-10-02 Bradford]

Track 10 is a spontaneous "jam" that segues into Bill Graham warning the crowd about "narcs", with delicate backing from Steve and Rick edited in. Track 14 is last for a reason. Even though SSOTS was played on the Fragile tour, the only known recording is so poor it would ruin the overall experience to have it in the middle. Just to have it on there, I used the last part to patch the other one-off 70's recording of SSOTS, from the Relayer tour.


CLOSE TO THE EDGE LIVE

01 Close To The Edge [1973-03-09 Tokyo]
02 And You And I [1973-03-10 Tokyo]
03 Siberian Khatru [1973-03-19 Brisbane]
04 Heart Of The Sunrise [1973-03-19 Brisbane]
05 Wakeman Solo [1972-08-13 Columbia, MD]
06 Roundabout [1972-08-13 Columbia, MD]
07 Yours Is No Disgrace [1972-08-13 Columbia, MD]

Given the circumstances, I dropped the "same lineup" requirement for this. The only time the CTTE lineup has performed a CTTE track live, is the one time they tried the title track on the Union tour. That would be interesting to hear, but wasn't recorded, and was apparently a bit of a trainwreck anyway...


TALES FROM TOPOGAPHIC OCEANS LIVE

1-01 The Revealing Science Of God [1972-02-18 NYC]
1-02 The Remembering [1974-02-26 Boston]
1-03 The Ancient [1974-03-18 Inglewood]

2-01 Ritual [1974-04-11 Frankfurt]
2-02 Close To The Edge [1974-03-19 Long Beach]
2-03 Roundabout [1974-03-19 Long Beach]
2-04 Starship Trooper [1974-03-19 Long Beach]
2-05 Yours Is No Disgrace [1974-02-16 Philadelphia]
2-06 'Remembering The Ancient' [1975-05-10/1978-09-19/2000-06-21]

Last track is another custom-made medley. It's a short quote from "The Remembering", then a couple of bits from "The Ancient". I've also been working on a re-edit of just the Tales bits from Jon's 1980 "Yes Medley".


RELAYER LIVE

01 The Gates Of Delirium [1974-12-11 Boston]
02 Sound Chaser [1975-06-21 Hollywood Bowl]
03 To Be Over [1975-06-23 Long Beach Arena]
04 And You And I [1974-12-11 Boston (aud)]
05 Ritual [1974-12-11 Boston (aud)]

Self-explanatory, really.


GOING FOR THE ONE

01 Going For The One [1977-11-12 Gothenburg]
02 Turn Of The Century [1977-09-26 Long Beach]
03 Parallels [1977-09-26 Long Beach]
04 Wonderous Stories [1977-11-12 Gothenburg]
05 Awaken [1977-10-26 Wembley]
06 'A Change Of Pace' [1977-10-27 Wembley]
07 Bremen Boogie [1977-11-27 Bremen]
08 Esslingen Country-Blues Jam [1977-12-01 Esslingen]
09 'Play Us a Tune, Rick' [1977-10-26 Wembley]
10 Leaves Of Green [1977-08-25 Atlanta]
11 Nous Sommes Du Soleil [1977-12-06 Paris]
12 'Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No 2 (Last Bar)' [1977-10-29 Wembley]
13 Paris Tour Song [1977-12-06 Paris]
14 Colours Of The Rainbow [1977-11-12 Gothenburg]
15 Flight Jam->Awaken [1977-09-26 Long Beach]

I went for quantity and novelty here. I felt the GFTO album and tour was well represented by these light-hearted little jams and interludes, along with a couple of nods to Tales, and then a bonus Awaken at the end for some weight. A perfect mixture of the sublime and the ridiculous.


TORMATO LIVE

01 Future Times-Rejoice [1978-08-30 Boston]
02 Don't Kill The Whale [1978-10-06 Inglewood]
03 Madrigal [1978-10-06 Inglewood]
04 Release Release [1978-10-30 Boston]
05 Arriving UFO [1979-06-19 Boston]
06 Circus of Heaven [1978-08-30 Boston]
07 Onward [1996-03-06 San Luis Obispo]
08 On The Silent Wings of Freedom [1978-10-28 Wembley]
09 The Big Medley [1978-09-19 Cleveland]
10 Starship Trooper [1979-06-19 Boston]

By this stage, there are a lot of very good recordings to choose from, so you could easily go mad trying to piece together the "ultimate 1978 show" or whatever. For consistency, I mainly went for high-quality aud. sources, the exeption being the classic Wembley show, represented by "On The Silent Wings Of Freedom".

"...and that ends this party political broadcast on behalf of the HistoryStoppedIn1979 Party".

I doubt I'll bother with the rest of the albums, but I did have a lot of fun making these compilations, while simultaneously learning a skill of sorts, so who knows?

I am impressed!!

Weren't you tempted to add the solo projects to the Relayer Live - say instead of the Ritual reprise? There were some good songs played on the solo tour from Olias, Fish out of Water, Beginnings, Ramshackled and the Story of i

[happytheman]

THE FIRST TWO ALBUMS LIVE

01 Beyond & Before [1970-01-10 Olympia, Paris]
02 I See You [1969-12-21 Sheffield]
03 Looking Around [1969-06-04 Johnnie Walker Show]
04 Every Little Thing [1970-04-03 Köln]
05 Sweetness [1969-08-04 Symonds On Sunday]
06 Survival [Buenos Aires '99-Inglewood '78]
07 Eleanor Rigby [1969-08-20 Hamburg]
08 Something's Coming [1969-10-27 Amougies]
09 No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed [1970-04-03 Köln]
10 Then [1970-04-03 Köln]
11 Everydays [1970-04-03 Köln]
12 Sweet Dreams [1975-06-23 Long Beach]
13 Astral Traveller [1970-04-03 Köln]
14 Time And A Word (1996-03-06)


the "dirty" versions:


YES LIVE

01 Beyond & Before [1970-01-10 Olympia, Paris] (aka "French TV 1969")
02 I See You [1969-12-21 Sheffield](6:17 edit)
03 Looking Around [1969-06-04 Johnnie Walker Show]
04 Every Little Thing [1970-04-03 Köln]
05 Sweetness [1969-08-04 Symonds On Sunday]
06 Survival [1969-11-29 Beat Club]('Lost Broadcasts' DVD)
07 Eleanor Rigby [1969-08-20 Hamburg]
08 It's Love [1969-10-27 Amougies]
09 Something's Coming [1969-10-27 Amougies]
10 Survival [Buenos Aires '99/Inglewood '78]


TIME AND A WORD LIVE

01 No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed [1970-04-03 Köln]
02 Then [1970-04-03 Köln]
03 Everydays [1970-04-03 Köln]
04 Sweet Dreams [Dave Lee Travis Show 1970-01-19](Something's Coming)
05 Astral Traveller [1970-04-03 Köln]
06 Time And A Word [1996-03-06 San Luis Obispo]
07 Dear Father [Sheffield 1969-12-22]
08 Eleanor Rigby [Sheffield 1969-12-22]
09 Sweet Dreams [1989-10-03 Stockholm]
10 Time And A Word [1989-10-03 Stockholm]


THE YES ALBUM LIVE

01 Yours is No Disgrace [1971-07-24 New Haven]
02 Clap [1970-08-09 Plumpton]
03 Starship Trooper [1973-03-08 Tokyo]
04 I've Seen All Good People [1971-01-24 Göteborg]
05 A Venture [Steve Howe Trio 2010-03-07/Jon & S.o.R 2007-02-16]
06 Perpetual Change [1971-07-24 New Haven]
07 Everydays [1971-05-10 Milano]
08 America [1971-05-10 Milano]

The Yes Album offered challenges in the shape of "A Venture" (never played by the band) and "Starship Trooper" (never played by the lineup that recorded it). With ST I simply used the earliest allowable version in my collection, which is only the fourth performance ever. "A venture" is stitched together from an instrumental version Steve played with his Trio, and a version by the School of Rock feat. Jon (audio from YouTube). Hey, you got Jon singing, Steve playing the guitar, that's close enough.


FRAGILE LIVE

01 Roundabout [1972-02-23 NYC]
02 Cans & Brahms [1973-03-19 Brisbane/1973-03-21 Adelaide]
03 We Have Heaven [2002-08-25 Las Vegas]
04 South Side Of The Sky [2002-08-25 Las Vegas]
05 'Five Per Cent Of Something' [1971-07-24 New Haven] (drum solo, edited)
06 Long Distance Runaround [1971-10-16 Newcastle]
07 The Fish [1971-10-16 Newcastle]
08 Mood For A Day [1971-10-16 Newcastle]
09 Heart Of The Sunrise [1972-03-17 San Bernardino]
10 '20 Second Lap Dance' [1971-10-16 Newcastle/1972-03-10 San Francisco]
11 I've Seen All Good People [1972-01-21 Amsterdam]
12 Wakeman Solo [1972-01-21 Amsterdam]
13 Yours Is No Disgrace [1972-03-10 San Francisco]
14 South Side Of The Sky [1974-12-05 Tulsa/1971-10-02 Bradford]

Never realized they played SSotS in '74, I'll have to look for this recording. Likewise never realized A Venture was played with Steve Howe Trio. And finally Survival was played in '99? I know what "passed" for Survival when it was included in The Big Medley was a mere mentioning of the title from Jon when he was running through passages of The Ancient etc. Definitely would like to hear Survival live. Always wondered why that one wasn't brought out during the 35th tour.

[dallasman]

I am impressed!!

Weren't you tempted to add the solo projects to the Relayer Live - say instead of the Ritual reprise? There were some good songs played on the solo tour from Olias, Fish out of Water, Beginnings, Ramshackled and the Story of i

Good question, Sir. I had an alternate plan, for a 'definitive' show from each tour, which would include every song performed (they didn't vary that much). When I decided to fo for live reproductions of the albums in sequence, the 1976 tour immediately became illegible for that, as it wasn't in support of Relayer. I agree it's a missed opportunity as I love that tour, too. It was kings-of-the-world time, and they were just roaring live. So I'll probably do a definitive tour document compilation for that eventually. There's a great audience recording of the Cobo Hall show that was used on both YesShows and The Word Is Live, that I crudely combined with the official tracks to make a full show for my iPod. If only some undiscovered gems would appear with A+ recordings of the solo material from earlier in the tour, not to mention The Remembering.

[Yesed]

I dont think Ive ever heard Cans & Brahms live.

[happytheman]

Only full version of Survival I'm aware of is on the Lost Broadcasts DVD. The Big Medley quote is brief, though he does sing a line from the chorus too ("They take away and they give..."). The '99 "version" is just Jon a capella, singing the first lines of the first verse plus the title. We're really talking about scraps here, two minutes combined (which include a lot of The Fish).
Bill said he didn't like Survival, so maybe it was just forgotten after Peter left. I'd like to hear that live too. it used to be my second favourite on "Yesterdays", after America.

I'm completely green and a little paranoid about online sharing services, but I thought 'what the heck' and tried a free Mediafire account, which I know to be legit. Please let me know if these work:

SSOTS Tulsa '74 (with Bradford '71 coda):
http://www.mediafire.com/?zi84ch9bwe9uts5

Survival (78/99 "scraps"):
http://www.mediafire.com/?6vc4usc4e2i08sc

A Venture (Steve+Jon/SoR):
http://www.mediafire.com/?h7sm8xj4mio4dc1

A Venture (Steve Howe 3 only):
http://www.mediafire.com/?yud3zd0fkc2ap6s

"20 Second Lap Dance"
http://www.mediafire.com/?xhh9eh6edw3pbpz

Thanks for the info, I checked and I actually have the Steve Howe Trio concert you are speaking of. Guess it's been a while since I listened to it.

[BrianD]

I dont think Ive ever heard Cans & Brahms live.

I did - Sydney 1973

[somissound]

I did - Sydney 1973

Nice!

Never heard the Solo's 1976 Tour. Would love to check out Yes doing Hold Out Your Hand/You By My Side... Sounds like the coolest Yes tour/stage/songlist ever...

[Yesed]

I did - Sydney 1973

Wow!
Very cool. How many recorded versions I can get my hands on?